1Test::Harness(3pm) Perl Programmers Reference Guide Test::Harness(3pm)
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6 Test::Harness - Run Perl standard test scripts with statistics
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9 Version 2.56
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12 use Test::Harness;
13 runtests(@test_files);
15
17 STOP! If all you want to do is write a test script, consider using
18 Test::Simple. Test::Harness is the module that reads the output from
19 Test::Simple, Test::More and other modules based on Test::Builder. You
20 don't need to know about Test::Harness to use those modules.
21 Test::Harness runs tests and expects output from the test in a certain
23 format. That format is called TAP, the Test Anything Protocol. It is
24 defined in Test::Harness::TAP.
25 "Test::Harness::runtests(@tests)" runs all the testscripts named as
27 arguments and checks standard output for the expected strings in TAP
28 format.
29 The prove utility is a thin wrapper around Test::Harness.
31 Taint mode
33 Test::Harness will honor the "-T" or "-t" in the #! line on your test
35 files. So if you begin a test with:
36 #!perl -T
38 the test will be run with taint mode on.
40 Configuration variables.
42 These variables can be used to configure the behavior of Test::Harness.
44 They are exported on request.
45 $Test::Harness::Verbose
47 The package variable $Test::Harness::Verbose is exportable and can
48 be used to let "runtests()" display the standard output of the
49 script without altering the behavior otherwise. The prove util‐
50 ity's "-v" flag will set this.
51 $Test::Harness::switches
53 The package variable $Test::Harness::switches is exportable and can
54 be used to set perl command line options used for running the test
55 script(s). The default value is "-w". It overrides "HAR‐
56 NESS_SWITCHES".
57 $Test::Harness::Timer
59 If set to true, and "Time::HiRes" is available, print elapsed sec‐
60 onds after each test file.
61 Failure
63 When tests fail, analyze the summary report:
65 t/base..............ok
67 t/nonumbers.........ok
68 t/ok................ok
69 t/test-harness......ok
70 t/waterloo..........dubious
71 Test returned status 3 (wstat 768, 0x300)
72 DIED. FAILED tests 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19
73 Failed 10/20 tests, 50.00% okay
74 Failed Test Stat Wstat Total Fail Failed List of Failed
75 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
76 t/waterloo.t 3 768 20 10 50.00% 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
77 Failed 1/5 test scripts, 80.00% okay. 10/44 subtests failed, 77.27% okay.
78 Everything passed but t/waterloo.t. It failed 10 of 20 tests and
80 exited with non-zero status indicating something dubious happened.
81 The columns in the summary report mean:
83 Failed Test
85 The test file which failed.
86 Stat
88 If the test exited with non-zero, this is its exit status.
89 Wstat
91 The wait status of the test.
92 Total
94 Total number of tests expected to run.
95 Fail
97 Number which failed, either from "not ok" or because they never
98 ran.
99 Failed
101 Percentage of the total tests which failed.
102 List of Failed
104 A list of the tests which failed. Successive failures may be
105 abbreviated (ie. 15-20 to indicate that tests 15, 16, 17, 18, 19
106 and 20 failed).
107 Functions
109 Test::Harness currently only has one function, here it is.
111 runtests
113 my $allok = runtests(@test_files);
114 This runs all the given @test_files and divines whether they passed
116 or failed based on their output to STDOUT (details above). It
117 prints out each individual test which failed along with a summary
118 report and a how long it all took.
119 It returns true if everything was ok. Otherwise it will "die()"
121 with one of the messages in the DIAGNOSTICS section.
122
124 &runtests is exported by Test::Harness by default.
125 $verbose, $switches and $debug are exported upon request.
127
129 "All tests successful.\nFiles=%d, Tests=%d, %s"
130 If all tests are successful some statistics about the performance
131 are printed.
132 "FAILED tests %s\n\tFailed %d/%d tests, %.2f%% okay."
134 For any single script that has failing subtests statistics like the
135 above are printed.
136 "Test returned status %d (wstat %d)"
138 Scripts that return a non-zero exit status, both "$? >> 8" and $?
139 are printed in a message similar to the above.
140 "Failed 1 test, %.2f%% okay. %s"
142 "Failed %d/%d tests, %.2f%% okay. %s"
143 If not all tests were successful, the script dies with one of the
144 above messages.
145 "FAILED--Further testing stopped: %s"
147 If a single subtest decides that further testing will not make
148 sense, the script dies with this message.
149
151 Test::Harness sets these before executing the individual tests.
152 "HARNESS_ACTIVE"
154 This is set to a true value. It allows the tests to determine if
155 they are being executed through the harness or by any other means.
156 "HARNESS_VERSION"
158 This is the version of Test::Harness.
159
161 "HARNESS_COLUMNS"
162 This value will be used for the width of the terminal. If it is not
163 set then it will default to "COLUMNS". If this is not set, it will
164 default to 80. Note that users of Bourne-sh based shells will need
165 to "export COLUMNS" for this module to use that variable.
166 "HARNESS_COMPILE_TEST"
168 When true it will make harness attempt to compile the test using
169 "perlcc" before running it.
170 NOTE This currently only works when sitting in the perl source
172 directory!
173 "HARNESS_DEBUG"
175 If true, Test::Harness will print debugging information about
176 itself as it runs the tests. This is different from "HARNESS_VER‐
177 BOSE", which prints the output from the test being run. Setting
178 $Test::Harness::Debug will override this, or you can use the "-d"
179 switch in the prove utility.
180 "HARNESS_FILELEAK_IN_DIR"
182 When set to the name of a directory, harness will check after each
183 test whether new files appeared in that directory, and report them
184 as
185 LEAKED FILES: scr.tmp 0 my.db
187 If relative, directory name is with respect to the current direc‐
189 tory at the moment runtests() was called. Putting absolute path
190 into "HARNESS_FILELEAK_IN_DIR" may give more predictable results.
191 "HARNESS_IGNORE_EXITCODE"
193 Makes harness ignore the exit status of child processes when
194 defined.
195 "HARNESS_NOTTY"
197 When set to a true value, forces it to behave as though STDOUT were
198 not a console. You may need to set this if you don't want harness
199 to output more frequent progress messages using carriage returns.
200 Some consoles may not handle carriage returns properly (which
201 results in a somewhat messy output).
202 "HARNESS_PERL"
204 Usually your tests will be run by $^X, the currently-executing
205 Perl. However, you may want to have it run by a different exe‐
206 cutable, such as a threading perl, or a different version.
207 If you're using the prove utility, you can use the "--perl" switch.
209 "HARNESS_PERL_SWITCHES"
211 Its value will be prepended to the switches used to invoke perl on
212 each test. For example, setting "HARNESS_PERL_SWITCHES" to "-W"
213 will run all tests with all warnings enabled.
214 "HARNESS_VERBOSE"
216 If true, Test::Harness will output the verbose results of running
217 its tests. Setting $Test::Harness::verbose will override this, or
218 you can use the "-v" switch in the prove utility.
219
221 Here's how Test::Harness tests itself
222 $ cd ~/src/devel/Test-Harness
224 $ perl -Mblib -e 'use Test::Harness qw(&runtests $verbose);
225 $verbose=0; runtests @ARGV;' t/*.t
226 Using /home/schwern/src/devel/Test-Harness/blib
227 t/base..............ok
228 t/nonumbers.........ok
229 t/ok................ok
230 t/test-harness......ok
231 All tests successful.
232 Files=4, Tests=24, 2 wallclock secs ( 0.61 cusr + 0.41 csys = 1.02 CPU)
233
235 The included prove utility for running test scripts from the command
236 line, Test and Test::Simple for writing test scripts, Benchmark for the
237 underlying timing routines, and Devel::Cover for test coverage analy‐
238 sis.
239
241 Provide a way of running tests quietly (ie. no printing) for automated
242 validation of tests. This will probably take the form of a version of
243 runtests() which rather than printing its output returns raw data on
244 the state of the tests. (Partially done in Test::Harness::Straps)
245 Document the format.
247 Fix HARNESS_COMPILE_TEST without breaking its core usage.
249 Figure a way to report test names in the failure summary.
251 Rework the test summary so long test names are not truncated as badly.
253 (Partially done with new skip test styles)
254 Add option for coverage analysis.
256 Trap STDERR.
258 Implement Straps total_results()
260 Remember exit code
262 Completely redo the print summary code.
264 Implement Straps callbacks. (experimentally implemented)
266 Straps->analyze_file() not taint clean, don't know if it can be
268 Fix that damned VMS nit.
270 HARNESS_TODOFAIL to display TODO failures
272 Add a test for verbose.
274 Change internal list of test results to a hash.
276 Fix stats display when there's an overrun.
278 Fix so perls with spaces in the filename work.
280 Keeping whittling away at _run_all_tests()
282 Clean up how the summary is printed. Get rid of those damned formats.
284
286 HARNESS_COMPILE_TEST currently assumes it's run from the Perl source
287 directory.
288 Please use the CPAN bug ticketing system at <http://rt.cpan.org/>. You
290 can also mail bugs, fixes and enhancements to "<bug-test-harness" at
291 "rt.cpan.org>".
292
294 Either Tim Bunce or Andreas Koenig, we don't know. What we know for
295 sure is, that it was inspired by Larry Wall's TEST script that came
296 with perl distributions for ages. Numerous anonymous contributors
297 exist. Andreas Koenig held the torch for many years, and then Michael
298 G Schwern.
299 Current maintainer is Andy Lester "<andy at petdance.com>".
301
303 Copyright 2002-2005 by Michael G Schwern "<schwern at pobox.com>", Andy
304 Lester "<andy at petdance.com>".
305 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
307 under the same terms as Perl itself.
308 See <http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html>.
310perl v5.8.8 2001-09-21 Test::Harness(3pm)